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Steffi doesn't talk, but she has so much to say.
Rhys can't hear, but he can listen.
Their love isn't a lightning strike, it's the rumbling roll of thunder.

Steffi has been a selective mute for most of her life - she's been silent for so long that she feels completely invisible. But Rhys, the new boy at school, sees her. He's deaf, and her knowledge of basic sign language means that she's assigned to look after him. To Rhys, it doesn't matter that Steffi doesn't talk, and as they find ways to communicate, Steffi finds that she does have a voice, and that she's falling in love with the one person who makes her feel brave enough to use it.

From the bestselling author of Beautiful Broken Things comes a love story about the times when a whisper is as good as a shout.

Trigger warning: anxiety, panic attacks, grief.

It took 5 pages for me to develop a crush on A Quiet Kind of Thunder, one that built quickly but consistently into adoration. By the end, I was in love. This could very well be my favourite contemporary YA of all time. It has left a warm glow about my heart that continues to linger past the closing of the final page.

I made my way through the book with a giant stupid grin on my face, despite reading it partly on the train and in class during the break (I couldn’t resist!). In fact, I got to the halfway point on the train on the way to class and burst into the classroom exclaiming my love to anyone who would listen. I can think of nothing I didn’t love about this book.

The story is told from Steffi’s point of view, a standard first-person narrative interjected with lists, chat transcripts and text messages. Steffi has selective mutism and severe anxiety, but she wants to go to university and needs to prove to herself and her parents that she’ll be able to handle it. Starting sixth form without her lifelong best friend beside her, she’s got an uphill battle, but the appearance of Rhys, a new kid who happens to be deaf, shakes things up a bit. As they bond through multi-modal communication, Steffi learns to speak up, but also to realise that she’s not alone in her uncertainty. But don’t get me wrong, this book isn’t about the boy saving or fixing the girl; it’s about everyone doing the best they can.

I think A Quiet Kind of Thunder captured several things really well. First of all, the anxiety was extremely relatable. Medication was discussed in such a way that it wasn’t The Miracle Drug That Fixes All, just something that some people find helps them cope. Sex was brought up without slut-shaming or making it seem like this magical, perfect thing, especially during your first time; in fact, there’s a bit where Steffi and her best friend Tem talk about it that I want everyone to read and believe. I think young love was definitely portrayed well, when everything seems monumental and potent and so incredible but also scary. I want to relive that! And finally, the parents: flawed, varied, concerned, loving, at times overbearing HUMANS. Including the step-parents, FYI. They were people, too, and they weren’t Evil.

Can we just talk about Rhys though? He was a freaking SWEETHEART. He was so genuine and caring and lovely towards Steffi, understanding and appreciating her with all of her quirks. But even greater was that he was so patient with people. He faced lots of awkward questions (5-year-olds are BLUNT) and patronising pity, but he handled it all in such a mature manner. He educated people without making them feel stupid or berating them for being rude. He was perfect, and when his imperfections were finally revealed, I loved him all the more for them.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder made me question myself. Having anxiety, I could relate a lot to Steffi. BUT just because you have one type of disability doesn’t mean you understand all others. That’s the thing about diversity: it’s not binary. The whole point is that we’re all different and can’t understand and speak for each other. So I found myself wondering how I behave around people from the Deaf community, especially while reading all the well-meaning but ultimately condescending behaviours of people that Steffi and Rhys encountered. Reading about Rhys and Steffi’s relationship made me want to learn sign language, but then I got to a section with Karam and wondered if I was being “noble”. I still don’t know where I fall in this, but I think that’s the point. The book has made me think rather than continuing on blindly. (I still want to learn sign language, though, because I agree with Rhys that it would be great if more people could communicate with each other.)

Then the end. At first, I thought it wasn’t as dramatic as Beautiful Broken Things, but the more I read and thought about it, the more I realised how BIG what happened was to the people it happened to. Maybe others would have been able to deal with it easily, but that wasn’t the case for Steffi and Rhys. They were both challenged and both had to come to terms with their own internal and external struggles.

I feel like this story reflected the real world without exaggerating anything for the sake of the story. There weren’t huge disasters or dramatic twists that would be highly unlikely in real life; the story didn’t need that. It did what it set out to do and did it well. Now that it’s over, I feel understood and hopeful and empowered and SO MANY THINGS.

I have also preordered the book, and I HOOOOPE I can see Sara Barnard at an event soon so I can give her the biggest hug and get it signed. (If I can bring myself to say more than three words to her. Sara, if you see this and you spot a girl with pink or orange hair and big eyes at an event, looking slightly panicky, know that I love you.)

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